Strips 77-81 of the popular comic strip Molarity, which previewed in The Observer in 1977. Notre Dame football takes a hit.
77. This series is a hint into Mitch’s psyche. I always saw Mitch as a star athlete and honor student in high school. But once he came to Notre Dame, Mitch was no longer on top. That meant a lot of adjustments for Mitch, who never quite figured out what was happening to him.
78. The headline from The Observer was “Food Fighters Lose IDs.” It was customary, though not condoned, for students to have a food fight in the dining halls after a football victory. But food fight salad days were soon to be over as the administration was cracking down. And more letters to the editor decried the waste of food while others around the world were starving.
79. The fourth panel features a few banners. One said “Murray’s Massage Parlor,” which was a regular banner at football games. It was inspired by Michael “Murray” Beaulieu and his cronies in Zahm Hall. Another says “Hi Deb.” I had an HTH my first two years at Notre Dame, and in each cartoon I hid the word “Deb.” It was sort of a homage to her and Hirschfeld’s “Ninas.” Now you can have a new hobby.
80. For trivia fans, that was a Supertramp song. Name the album. And that was a Cheryl Ladd poster. Name the TV show. And for you young ones, what is that thing that Chuck touches in the second panel?
81. In The Observer, Father Robert Griffin, CSC, wrote about traveling with the Glee Club to East Germany; he apparently lied about his age at the border crossing.
See the first five classic strips. Check back monthly for more classic Molarity strips. Molarity Redux, the updated, continuing adventures of Jim Mole and friends, also is posted monthly. For those new strips, check out the cartoon archives.